( fl Assisi, c. 1290s). Italian painter. His name is derived from the frescoes depicting Isaac Blessing Jacob and Isaac and Esau (each 3*3 m; see fig.) in the Upper Church of S Francesco, Assisi; the frescoes occupy the middle register of the third bay from the crossing on the north wall of the nave (see ASSISI, §II, 2(iii)). By assigning these scenes to the young Florentine Giotto, Thode (1885), while refuting Vasari’s attribution to Cimabue, sparked the controversy over the identity and origin of the Isaac Master. Subsequent attempts to identify him with either the Roman artist Pietro Cavallini or with another Florentine, Gaddo di Zanobi Gaddi (see Mather), have been unpersuasive. Present consensus is divided between scholars accepting the attribution to GIOTTO and those advocating that the Isaac Master came from Rome, where he had absorbed the art of Cavallini. Notwithstanding the effort to assert Giotto’s primacy in Assisi, iconographic and stylistic details in the Isaac Master’s frescoes attest to his Roman background.

Part of the Masters, anonymous, and monogrammists family

• Isaac Master
  • methods
    • Wall painting, §I, 4(iii): Renaissance
  • works
    • Assisi, §II, 2(iii): S Francesco: The biblical scenes of the Upper Church
    • Gothic, §IV, 5(v): Painting: Italy, c 1265–c 1320
    • Masters, anonymous, and monogrammists, §I: Master of the Legend of St Francis
    • Paris, §V, 2(iii): Sainte-Chapelle: Stained glass